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"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy,
while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn." — John Muir

First off - HUGE thank you to Catavarie for planning the hang - definitely awesome for your first!! Secondly another HUGE thank you to Catavarie, FIMB, Gresh, Gunner, 4WLO, and everyone who fed us, that was the most I've ever eaten while camping And third - thank you to everyone in attendance for just general awesomeness, ya'll are the best group of strangers I have ever spent the weekend with

Ok on to the trip report...

So for the entire week before the trip our house was chaos; finding gear that hadn't been used since before we moved, doing inventory for six people, and just generally packing too much But by Friday morning we had most everything packed, so after work and a quick stop by the store we loaded the car and headed out around 11ish...to the other store...then we really hit the road.

We made it all the to Durham before the kids starved to death and stopped by Wal-Mart (yes ANOTHER store ) since we needed to renew our NC fishing licenses and ate at the Subway. Talked to a crazy lady who asked if there were animals around when you fish? (glad she wasn't camping with us)

After following my directions and almost getting lost and actually having to ask for directions - we finally made it to the site sometime in the afternoon (I lost track of time in my hurry to put more space between the kids ) After a warm greeting and quick introductions, we set out to find several good trees because I was determined to be set-up before the storms hit. We settled on a spot between the bathrooms and everyone else (kids) and figured out how to bunk the hammocks for the boys!!

After settling in we went over to be sociable and start a little fire for our hobo dinners. The rain came about the time we sat down to eat And then we went to make sure our stuff was staying dry and find the rain gear. The kids got soaked...then dried, and tucked into the bed After I dried myself out and the rain eased up, I settled into my (already claimed) hammock, and got to try out a sock from Catavarie (thanks!!)

Slept pretty well, except I kept thinking I was gonna dump my little one . Apparently my tarp broke during the night and Visionary fixed it...ain't he sweet Around five am I was awoken to "Mommy.....Mommy, I gotta potty!!" So after a quick (and cold) trip to the tree, I snuggled back in, actually in the sleeping bag this time. Got up for real a little later and started coffee...and shoes The rest of our group was slow to get up but they had some wonderful breakfast all the same.

After much nagging, we took the kids to the lake to fish. The wind was blowing so hard, that there were ocean-like waves crashing! But we fished anyway, and even caught one (by the eye!) The kids ran around in the woods and Visionary and I hung out and chatted most of the day. I borrowed a hammock from Catavarie (thanks again) so I could sleep a little more comfortably. Then the dinner bell rang! Yummy!! Lots of butt, chili, beans, stew (need that recipe btw Greesh), and finished off with dump cake. The raffle was a huge success (even tho it was rigged ) The kids made smores and FIMB pied-pipered them away. We found them (good ol' glow sticks) and settled them in for the night and attempted to hang out by the fire. After a few potty trips, we scampered back and joked and laughed with the grown ups!!

After a better nights sleep, I woke Visionary so he could do breakfast We weren't in a hurry for the weekend to end so we hung around the fire for a while...I received a very unexpected and wonderful gift!! (thank you so so much ) Eventually we broke camp (and my percolator ), a long process apparently because when we went to get our stuff from the main camp, almost everyone was gone. We collected the rest of our stuff and said our last goodbyes. Then homeward bound (gah....the return to civilization always sucks).

Another huge thank you for being the type of people I want my kids to know, and for an awesome weekend.

P.S. - I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but this is MamaLion - not Visionary's alter ego

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy,
while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn." — John Muir

Reall nice video FIMB! Appreciate your taking the time to capture it all

No problem. This way it makes it easier for me to remember all that happened one day.

Originally Posted by 4WLO

Cool vid, thanks for taking the time to put it together.
This was truly an awesome hang. FIMB's vid sums it up well.

Thank you. It was pretty sweet.

Originally Posted by Junebugdawn

Would it be possible to make the video available on mobile, please? Can't wait to see it!

I'm not sure, but it might not be visible on mobile because of a song that's used in the video is copyrighted. I wonder if that might be the reason. It won't even give me the option to have it visible on mobile. All of my videos normally are accessible by mobile though. Anyone else have any thoughts?

Originally Posted by visionarylion

Awesome video...love that we have hard evidence of the rigged raffle!! (just picking guys)

And no worries I think they just wanted to be pirates too!

~MamaLion

I think they'd make great deck hands. Your kids are too well behaved to be pirates.

Great video, FiMB. Feel like I was there, oh wait I was. I didn't realize how stoned I looked, I guess I was just high on nature and BBQ. Can hardly wait till next year and will have to see about possibly putting together something for the fall as well.

*Heaven best have trees, because I plan to lounge for eternity.

Good judgement is the result of experience and experience the result of bad judgement. - Mark Twain